Records galore in Galle but Irish eye draw  

Rex Clementine in Galle  

There are quite a few Cinderella stories in Sri Lankan cricket. Players with numerous economic hardships and challenges going onto become household names in the country thanks to their skill, commitment and perseverance is nothing new. We witnessed yet another such story yesterday as Nishan Madushka converted a maiden hundred into a double hundred becoming the second youngest Sri Lankan to the milestone after Mahela Jayawardene.

Moratuwa has two major cricketing centers – Prince of Wales and St. Sebastian’s. A third force has been producing some quality players over the years without much notice. Nishan Madushka is from Moratu Vidyalaya and comes from the humblest of beginnings with his father, a daily wage earner, being the sole bread winner.

Sheer weight of runs for the school, club, Sri Lanka Development Squad and the ‘A’ team has got the 23-year-old to the senior side and he made it count with a memorable double ton yesterday.

Another Moratuwa boy, Kusal Mendis also posted a maiden double hundred having been previously dismissed twice on 190s.  They shared a big 268 run partnership and clearly Mendis was the more stylish timing the ball sweetly and finding the gap with no trouble.

Mendis was on the verge of breaking Wasim Akram’s World Record for the most sixes in an innings in Test cricket but fell short trying to equal the feet. Mendis had hit 11 sixes and failed to clear the 12th as he was caught at long-off. He now owns the Sri Lankan record though having eclipsed Kumar Sangakkara’s eight sixes in an innings.

Angelo Mathews out for a duck in the first Test was dropped on one and made most of the reprieve as he went onto post his 15th Test hundred. It was only the third instance in Test match cricket the top four batters of the line-up had scored hundreds or more.

Sri Lanka also established the highest total in Galle as they declared on 704 for three eclipsing Bangladesh’s 638 all out in 2013. Ireland resumed their second innings being 212 runs behind and the spin duo of Prabath Jayasuriya and Ramesh Mendis picked up a wicket each.

The spin bowlers were getting some assistance from the surface last evening and Sri Lanka will be looking to knock off the next eight wickets soon before rains come down on today’s final day. Ireland need a further 158 runs to make Sri Lanka bat again.  The Irish have lost all five of their previous Tests and with a little bit of help from rain are in for a chance to draw the game here.